A Character Is Not a Whole Person

This exercise works for both playwrights and actors. It can be done by playwright working on a new play, or by an actor in rehearsal. It’s very simple, but also illuminating. It will encourage you to hone in and focus on plot and character, on the big picture and the small. What’s the one word?The one word that describes this scene. The one word that describes the main theme. The one word that describes the main character. The one word that describes this relationship. Define this moment, this person, this play in one word. Sometimes artists want to go on and on about their characters, and their story, and the more they talk, the more you realize they don’t know what they’re talking about. They think that the more words they speak, the more intelligent they’ll sound. But ask them to distill their work down into one word and the task freezes them. They can’t because they don’t truly know their work. If you can find the one word to define the theme, you know exactly what the play is about. If you can find the one word to define a character, you know exactly who that character is. And of course, over the course of a story a play should be defined by more than one word. There should be change. But this exercise will get you to practice being specific and efficient with words. And the point is not to choose any word. It’s the one word that creates a world. Exercise:In the downloadable PDF you’ll find three monologues. Read each monologue and decide on the one word that illuminates the story of the monologue, and one word that illuminates the character. Don’t pick just any word. Spend time thinking about what’s the one word that describes the story and the character perfectly. It should be a word that speaks volumes. A word that creates a visual. Is that a lot of pressure to put on just one word? Sure. But if you can come up with the perfect word, you’ll know these monologues inside and out. Use this exercise in your own work to make sure you fully understand it.

Are your students feeling stuck or frustrated with their playwriting assignments? This exercise will help get them unstuck by challenging them to explore alternative situations for their scenes and characters. You can do this exercise in three different ways: • Students changing a scene written by themselves, OR • Students pairing up, trading scenes, and changing a scene written by their partner, OR • By adapting a scene from an existing script. First, students will take their scene (either previously self-written, written by a partner, or a scene from an existing play) and read it through carefully. Then, they will answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper, brainstorming 3-5 suggestions for each question. Suggestions could be comedic, dramatic, tragic, or ridiculous – the point is for students to generate lots of ideas and alternatives. 1. What might happen if one of the characters didn’t appear in the scene, or a different character appeared instead? (For example, in Hamlet, what if Ophelia or Rosencrantz was hidden behind the tapestry instead of Polonius?) 2. What might happen if one of the characters reacted in a completely different way than they did in the scene before? (For example, in Macbeth, what if Macbeth and Macduff start breakdancing instead of swordfighting?) 3. What might happen if one of the characters makes a completely different decision than they did in the scene before? (For example, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, what if Oberon decides to kill Puck as a punishment when Puck places the potion on Lysander instead of Demetrius?) From this brainstorm session, have students choose one of their suggestions and use it to rewrite their existing scene into something new. The only rule is that the scene cannot just cut off and end abruptly with the change (as in, “He dies. The end.”). How does the change affect the rest of the scene, the characters, and the overall story? What happens now that the change has occurred? How do the characters react to the changes? Have students explore these thoughts during their rewrite. Optional: Once the scenes are rewritten, have students do staged readings of the new material. If students are working with scenes that they have written themselves, this exercise will be especially useful as they develop their scripts. It’s so easy to get stuck with clichéd scenarios and stock characters – this exercise helps students to push their limits and realize that anything is possible in the world of playwriting!

If you want your characters to be three dimensional, you have to consider their voice. What words do they choose? What’s the structure of their language? How do they communicate? A character specific voice not only gives an actor something to play, but it also lifts the character off the page. There is no such thing as silent reading in theatre. We want characters to come to life. Defining how a character sounds is an essential part of that process. How do we define a character specific voice? 1. Define their vocabularyWhat words does this character use when they talk? Do they stick to one syllable or do they reach for the ten dollar words? Do they use ten dollar words even when they don’t know what they mean? Do they pronounce them correctly? Do they use words associated with a favourite pastime? For example, if they like Star Wars, do they talk about the Force? If they like football, do they frame everything in terms offense and defense? Do they show off their knowledge of physics or fashion? Word choice is key to creating a specific character. Exercise Play with word choice by putting two different characters into the same scenario. The location is a courtroom. The situation is that one of the characters is trying to talk the judge out of giving them a parking ticket. Define the vocabulary for each of these characters. What words would they choose to communicate to the judge? Do they succeed in the end? Does their word choice improve their situation or make it worse? • Scientist • Fashion Model • Artist • Computer Programmer • Chef • Ballet Teacher • Lawyer • Construction Worker • Librarian • Personal Trainer 2. Define their language structureOnce you look at the “what” of your character’s voice, you want to look at the “how.” How are their sentences constructed? Do they speak with grammatical correctness or with a lot of sentence fragments? Do they say “I am unfamiliar with that term,” or “I don’t know” or “Dunno”? Do they speak in short, clipped sentences or long, run-on sentences? What is the character’s primary punctuation? Do they speak in blunt statements or exclamations? Do they go off on tangents? Defining the “how” in a character’s voice is the best way to write the sound of a character. It also gives the actor playing that role a playbook in terms of vocal pace, speed, tone, and tension. Exercise Write a monologue using the same scenario with two different characters. A boy is asking the head cheerleader out on a date. Be specific with the language structure. Depending on the boy’s character, what is his primary punctuation? Sentence length? Does he use contractions? Does he speak in complete thoughts or sentence fragments? • Debate Team Member • Quarterback • AV Club Member • Student Council President • Math Club Member • Environment Club Member • Yearbook Editor • School Spirit Leader 3. Define how they communicateTheatre is a communicative form. A character’s main job is to communicate their story, viewpoint, and personality to an audience. Decide how you want the audience to perceive a character and how well you want the character to communicate. Is your character direct? Are they vocally high status? Do they tell the truth all the time? Do they speak in statements? Do they get to the point? Do they state their opinions with confidence? Or is your character indirect. Are they vocally low status and insecure? Do they take forever to get to the point? Do they peeter off at the end of their sentences? Or punctuate every line with a nervous laugh? Do they verbally meander? Do they lie? Once you decide what a character says, and the structure of their speech, you can establish a character’s specific voice. Exercise Choose one of the character types from the previous exercises. Write a monologue in which that character talks to their parents about something they’ve done. Before you start, decide if the character is direct or indirect. • If your character is direct , then your character is: confident, truthful, concise, and is high status. • If your character is indirect , then your character is: insecure, untruthful, rambles, and is low status. Include all four elements in the monologue. Variation: Choose a character who is typically indirect and write them as direct for this scenario, and vice versa. *Note: For all the exercises in this post, “type” characters are used. This is to give students an instant visual and a doorway into the writing. Certainly, as you move forward with character specific writing, it will become less about the “type” and more about using these tools to create dimension.